January 3rd Belongs to You.

As 2008 wound to a close, I posted a Drift column called “January 2nd” in which I challenged sellers to come out of the gates fast and smart in 2009. Looking back at that post, it’s still an evergreen classic for the holiday season, so I’m reposting it here with some minor modifications. We start off by suggesting four possibilities for your New Year’s Weekend:

1. Take down the tree and other holiday decorations and put the holiday behind you.
2. Watch the AT&T Cotton, AutoZone Liberty and Allstate Sugar Bowls in one long string (though none offer really great matchups).
3. Eat your first NutriSystem meals.
4. Do five things that will help you take control of your own business future in 2011.

If you chose number four, then carve out a few hours that day, get in a quiet place with your laptop and some coffee and dig in. Here are the five things I’m going to do.

Segregate the Issues. The very best people in business (‘Doers’) are those who build strategies around things that they control. Others tend to obsess about market conditions, the economy and a host of other uncontrollable phenomena. (Call these folks ‘victims.’) So make a list or an excel document with one column called ‘controllable’ and another called ‘uncontrollable.’ Economic conditions or the amount of money a given client choose to budget toward online are clearly uncontrollable. Managing your time, reading business and strategy books that will make you more valuable to customers, writing better action plans for your accounts…all highly controllable. Post the list you create in a visible spot and be accountable to it. The hours you spend thinking and talking about stuff you can’t control are wasted. Maniacally focus on the other column.

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Create a Learning Agenda for Yourself. What will make you smarter and more vital to your company and your customers if you learn it this year? What area of expertise or insight will you ‘own’ in 2011? Perhaps its vertical knowledge of an industry. Or maybe expertise in a process or technology. If you’re just doing your job you’re doing yourself a disservice. Growth doesn’t just happen; you’ve got to have a plan… a plan with dates, deliverables and action verbs on it.

Start a Network. No, not that kind. Plan an event – a dinner, a breakfast, a meeting at a coffee bar – in which you’ll bring together a disparate group of your customers and other smart, interesting people you know. The agenda? No agenda. Don’t worry about selling anything in this environment or being heard. Instead you’ll be raising your own personal credibility and creating value where it didn’t exist before. That group of people will see you as a connector and your relationships with all of them will grow exponentially. It’s the smart, confident and valuable seller who says “Hey, you know who you should meet….”

Take Inventory. Write these words at the top of a page: First. Best. Only. Under them are two columns. One says “Me.” The other lists the name of your company. What are the things you can be first to offer your customers? What are you truly best at? And what can only you offer? Fill each list with appropriate actions, capabilities, insights, executional tactics and the like. The “Company” column will help you define the core product and audience strengths. (Things you do that are not on that list are probably a bunch of commodity “anywhere” junk that’s distracting you and your customers from connecting with your core value.) And the “me” column? Your personal strengths – these are the actions and capabilities that you will go to again and again as you compete effectively this year. These are the “plays” that you’ll run to perfection instead of just falling into the ‘automatic sales stuff’ that will make you seem like everyone else. Or worse, set you up to play the other guy’s game.

Believe. What do you believe in? What do you know to be true? What scenarios would you bet your house on? Far too many people in sales don’t believe much of anything. Or if they do, they don’t let that belief structure influence their work and their relationships. Your belief structure will serve you well. It will be a compass as you make decisions and it will be a magnet for interest and value. Be that seller who brings a point-of-view and core beliefs to your associates and customers. And watch your stature and influence grow geometrically.

Hi Doug,
I follow The Drift weekly and I have personally and professionally benefited from you candid advice over several years. Thus, my clients and the organizations that I work for have benefited from the pre-planning and enhanced understanding of their business needs & challenges. I appreciate this timely column, which will help focus my time before the New Year on strategic account planning.
Thanks again!

Thanks for another great year of The Drift! For myself, and I believe, anyone passionate about their sales or management career- your experience, teachings and thought-provoking comments and insights are a MUST read.